Toilet locks

[Durham1968]

Hi all,
The toilet locks on the cubicles in our school are starting to become brittle now with age - I reckon 20 years or more since they were fitted.
The brand is Armitage Venesta, I bought 3 from their website about a month ago for £25 each plus £15 postage ( standard price on postage regardless if you buy 1 or 100 )
Just been back on their site again and they have gone up to £32.14 !!! - its mainly the outer covers which are breaking and I have emailed them twice to see if I can get just that part but they won't respond.
I could do with about another 10 really but begrudge paying that money for a bit of plastic and have thought about getting a local 3D printing company to make me some but don't know if they would be patented ?
I could get cheap thumbturn locks to put on but if I remove the old locks there is a 6"x 3" rectangular hole cut out which I would need to cover / fill.

[AndyCornwall]

I don't think you need to worry about patenting, 3d printing looks like a good option to me.

[Frankle]

I had the same issue with Armitage Venesta, £27.50 for a replacement only to use two of these bits out of the pack. I went down the thumbturn road and purchased ten replacement locks for £120. I got round the hole in the door by using the Armitage Venesta bits on the inside and outside of the door and put the thurmbturn lock above that.

[Vera]

I don't think you need to worry about patenting, 3d printing looks like a good option to me.

Although there is next to no chance of you personally getting caught with patent issues the 3D printing company may refuse to copy the part.

It's the same as taking a book into a copy shop and asking them to copy it cover to cover.

If you were to fill in or sand off any identification marks before approaching the 3D printers they will be less nervous of patent issues as the part is not identifiable as a patented manufactured part.

[steveg]

Sounds like the exact ones that we have. I managed to get hold of them to ask if we can buy just the outer bit in bulk and the answer was a definite no.

I have found some aluminium ones which have a large plate on the outside, which i think will cover all the old holes. I a have one ready to fit which hopefully i will get round to later this week, i'll let you know how it goes. They are about the same price, but by the look of them should last a lot longer.

[Durham1968]

Yes, that would be great thanks.
Any suggestion is appreciated

[steveg]

New lock.jpg

Got round to fitting one of the replacements today, it is the horizontal one from here https://www.commercialwashroomsltd.co.u ... lates.html

I ended up having to move the door slightly because the indicator part isn't inset enough for where the door was. - I could have moved the lock over but then the plate wouldn't have covered the existing screw holes.

They seem pretty solid when fitted so i'm hoping they will survive a little better.

[ste]

I need several of these toilet locks but can't justify the cost of just under £30 for each door.
For a primary school I was thinking of just fitting normal bolts as they are a lot cheaper.

Ste

[steveg]

I need several of these toilet locks but can't justify the cost of just under £30 for each door.
For a primary school I was thinking of just fitting normal bolts as they are a lot cheaper.

Ste

The problem with normal bolts is there is no way to open them from the outside.

[OXSET]

New lock.jpg

Got round to fitting one of the replacements today, it is the horizontal one from here https://www.commercialwashroomsltd.co.u ... lates.html

I ended up having to move the door slightly because the indicator part isn't inset enough for where the door was. - I could have moved the lock over but then the plate wouldn't have covered the existing screw holes.

They seem pretty solid when fitted so i'm hoping they will survive a little better.

I've been delaying this for ages but actually think I will bite the bullet and use the same. The locks on my doors are ridiculous money to buy £50+ per unit..

Doesn't have to look super pretty so long as they do the job in my opinion!